Jazz Improvisation, Mindfulness, And Organizational Learning

In contemporary organizations, the effective management of unpredictable situations is crucially based on mindfulness nurtured by improvisational practices. As well as helping organizations focus on the normal activities at stake, the categorization process can also divert them from preventing and solving problems, especially when difficulties occur in an unexpected form. In an unstable environment, mindfulness is then crucial as it helps to shift attention from the problem to the possible solution, through devising a different scenario. It does so by fostering collective efforts to develop sense-making, which enables team members to “familiarize the unfamiliar” and generate ground-breaking and effective answers in real time. Encouraging people in organizations to acquire improvisational skills allows them to avoid being recurrently surprised (or even shocked) by unexpected events, conversely treating unforeseen incidents as an opportunity for progressive – and sometimes radical – innovation.